Katrina Fernandez and Nyska Dumornay
Journalism Class Reporters

Each year Americans celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts Sept. 15 and ends Oct. 15. During this celebration people get to understand and celebrate Hispanic cultures and histories. This started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage week but was expanded to Hispanic Heritage Month by former president Ronald Regan in 1988. For some cultures, they celebrate their holidays during the same time such as Independence Day on Sept. 15 for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
If you want to learn more about Hispanic heritage, why don’t you join the National Spanish Honor Society? They created the club because they want students to know the importance of Hispanics and establish connections between their cultural values and those of other countries in order to generate a unified environment. The sponsors are Ms. Medina and Ms.Ortiz and they meet every other Tuesday from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.
“ Hispanic heritage month means to me all the Hispanics joined together as a group celebrating our language, culture, and history,” said Ms. Medina, who helped organize the events this year.
The pep rally celebrates students’ heritage with singing, dancing, drama acts, and cultural clothing. The middle school students had a dance competition, and the eighth-graders won.
Students in the Spanish class made posters on a Hispanic country and brought food from that culture. Teachers were invited to have lunch with them and celebrate the culmination of the Hispanic Heritage Month.
“I feel that Hispanic Heritage Month should be celebrated worldwide because they made positive contributions to history and influence us to learn more about their culture,” said sixth-grader Lindsey Emery.

By Sara Brown
Journalism Class Reporter

Peer Counseling is a new class at Somerset Academy taught by Ms. Milagros Lopez during fifth period. The purpose of the class is to train the students on what to do so that eventually in high school they can become peer counselors.

Peer counseling is limited to seventh and eighth grades. Most of the students in this class are specially selected, but some of them switched into the class at the beginning of the year. Qualities of leadership and how influential these students are in the lives of their peers determined whether they were selected by administrators to be in the class.

Ms. Lopez is highly qualified for the position as the teacher of peer counseling because she has a minor in psychology. In addition possesses the ability to empathize with students and to help them with problems; therefore setting a good example for her students. When asked whether or not Ms. Lopez was the right teacher for the job eighth-grader Matthew Bonachea replied, “Ms. Lopez has the right attitude. She has the will to help others more than most teachers do and I feel she really wants to make a difference in student’s lives.”

The subjects that peer counselors are able to discuss with students are somewhat limited. For example, if a student wants to discuss things like abuse and suicide the student must be referred to adult school counselors. The students counsel on a case by case basis which means they cannot just counsel anybody they want. The purpose of these counselors are to help their peers by providing someone to listen to their less serious problems, most importantly someone that is in their age group if they don’t feel as comfortable talking to a guidance counselor.

The class the activities consist of things that help the students to discover themselves, to grow in leadership, and to train in peer counseling. For example they sponsor character traits. The posters all over the school about responsibility, the character trait for the month of October, is an example of their handiwork. They also have group discussions in which they first write about a topic and then they discuss what they wrote with their classmates. “The class shares a special bond and everyone is very comfortable with one another” said peer counseling student Nicky Macias.

The students in peer counseling are very happy with the class .Although it replaces physical education for some of the students in the class they agree that having the opportunity to be in peer counseling is well worth the sacrifice. “Peer counseling opens up a new world to me and to my peers in the class. It helps us to embark on a new learning path,” Matthew Bonachea said.

By Yasmeen Faine and Amanda Randle
Journalism Class Reporters

The gym is expected to be completed by January, but the due date is not totally confirmed.

Some of the features in the Somerset gym will include bleachers, a basketball court and hoops, a room for Judo, more office space, and locker rooms in each bathroom with showers. Even though there will be a new gym, the back fields will still be used for activities. When it’s cold, students will be outside, but when its below 50 degrees, they will be inside the gym.

        The gym will be used for some after-school activities but mostly for sports.

“The volleyball team will have the gym and the swimming team will have to go to a place to practice. We do not have enough space to put a swimming pool on school property,” Mr. Montero stated. However, he said he does not regret not installing a swimming pool in or outside of the gym.

       We all know how Franklin Academy was built faster, right? Mr. Montero doesn’t know how it was built faster. He also said he “feels our pain and wants the gym to be completed” and that he has been waiting long enough for this gym.

By Romel Sensontic

Journalism Class Reporter

                Somerset Academy student Marc-Herv Joseph tries not to think about the earthquake, but when he does, he views it as self-therapy.  He helped save a life of a young Haitian child.

                “I carried a child to my house for my mom to make a natural serum. I was so scared because he would fall asleep every two seconds. I thought he was going to die! So I kept on shaking him to keep him up,” said Joseph, a senior.

                They were the survivors of the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that hit about 16 miles west of Port Au Prince, Haiti’s capital, on Jan. 12, 2010. Its aftermath has claimed about 316,000 lives.

                Many Haitians have sought refuge in South Florida and have come great distances to live here. Many Haitian earthquake survivors who are in our school are a part of Haiti’s high social class.

                When asked, some of them talked about how different it is here for them.

                “In America, we have house chores. We have to clean rooms and wash the cars. But in Haiti we have maids, workmen, and cooks,” Joseph said on behalf of his fellow Haitian classmates.

                Most of them don’t live with their parents, they have less freedom, and they don’t have a chauffeur to drive them.

                Almost all of the Haitians interviewed said they will return to their native country after college in America. “I’m going back, that’s no question,” Joseph said.

                Can you imagine leaving your family behind in a different country? How hard it would be to let them go?

                Senior Na-Indra Lamothe said many Haitians live with “our families, our aunties.”

            Did they salvage any items/possessions from the earthquake?

                “Not really, we just got out and only thought about our family, asking them if they were OK. We didn’t care if the house collapsed,” Lamothe said.

                Some students have lost the most priceless possession, family and friends. Lamothe said she lost some friends and cousins.

                “Most of us have lost our family members,” junior Yuhree Claude stated.

By Veronica Macias

News & Features Co-Editor

                Somerset Academy raised $1,500, surpassing the original goal of $1,000 for the Smile Train foundation created by math teacher Ms. Vega.

                “We have raised enough money for six surgeries,” Vega told Smile Train participants while preparing for NBC news to arrive.

           The two-month fundraise to raise money for children in foreign countries with the birth defect cleft lip or lip pallet began with selling plates that the customers decorated for $1. Those were then posted in building B.

                The fundraising progressed by producing and selling thin neon orange “I Love Smiles” bracelets imprinted in royal blue to the students of Somerset for $1. A continuation of these bracelets were thicker and blue, with “I Love Smiles” in orange. Shirts were also sold for $10 with the same layout design as the most recent bracelets. Students are now able to express their support to the foundation by wearing the “I Love Smiles” shirts on Wednesdays.

         Ms. Vega and all the students who owned the T-shirt were in the media center to appear on a segment for NBC 6, which aired the following day. The segment showed Ms. Vega and the students telling facts about what the organization is, the amount raised, and what was sold to make money for the foundation.

By Sashyel Altman

Journalism Class Reporter                                      

                The curriculum fair was a night when teachers and students interact to help students prepare for the upcoming decisions they have to make about the courses they will take next year.

                This year’s curriculum fair was intermingled with the science fair on Jan. 13, so students would be able to visit both events.
                Teachers displayed their classes on presentation boards to parents and students interested in the course.

                The fair allows students to have a small preview of each class and having the variety of classes in front of them will help them compare each class, which makes the process of elective choosing much easier.

                Every elective had a presentation board and their own area. From dance to creative writing, each board had an insight to each class. The boards included work samples, objectives, and descriptions of the class, materials, and the benefits of taking that class.

                “It should show how learning the material will help to take you to the next level,” said Ms. Aguiar, who teaches language arts. “It will help them make a wise selection based on their own interests.”

By Taylor Crehan

News Club Reporter

                Armed with a smile on her face, Ms. Estomba, is the new guidance counselor for 8th and 9th grade.

                She said she enjoys helping students progress and improve. “I like [Somerset] because it’s a small school,” Ms. Estomba said.

                Before becoming a counselor, she was a teacher for five years. After having several conversations with students about their personal dilemmas, she decided that she wanted a job that focused more on the students’ problems.

                “I have met with many students for different reasons, and some have told me that I have helped them,” Ms. Estomba said. “Parents have also called saying how I have assisted them.”

The first big event in Somerset this year was the Hispanic Heritage pep rally Oct. 7. Flags were raised, and dances were held to celebrate the rich heritage of the different Hispanic countries.

Since it was the first official event in the school year, everyone was ready to have as much fun as possible to start off this year in a festive mood. We had people dancing, playing games, and singing songs. All these activities, of course, had a Hispanic theme for the occasion.

“I really liked how the entrance for the Hispanic flag parade turned out,” said Karen Gonzalez, liaison for National Spanish Honor Society. “I was proud since I made the choreography for it.”

She also said the National Spanish Honor Society took three to four weeks to prepare for the pep rally.

The preparation seemed to go along smoothly since “the distribution of roles was very easy, everyone wanted to participate in the pep rally we are most involved with, we didn’t have any problems in that sense,” Gonzalez said.

“It was rewarding to work on making this happen, but it’s also a relief to have pulled it all off in the end,” said Gonzalez.

By Yaneli Gonzalez — News and Features Editor